A Study of Two Readings of Democracy in the Currents of Contemporary Religious Thought in Iran

This article has studied the impact of the interpretive approach of Mohammad Mojtahed Shabestari, as one of the religious modernists, and Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, as one of the representatives of the school of political and jurisprudential Islam, on their views of the model of a democratic political order. Mohammad Mojtahed Shabestari has used new methods for the interpretation of religious texts and by adopting a hermeneutic method, he has interpreted religion in such a way that it can accept a democratic system; to maintain the faith of believers according to the time conditions. The result of the attitude of this religious thinker is the acceptance of value democracy. At the same time, Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi, a prominent representative of the school of political and jurisprudential Islam, seeks to maintain the position of religion in the political and social spheres to ensure the euphoria of Muslims in this world and the hereafter; That's why, he considers it necessary to pay attention to the concept of democracy and  its explaining based on Islamic principles - the understanding of jurisprudential discourse - and while rejecting liberal democracy, he speaks of the incompatibility of religion with this type of democracy. Of course, he accepts methodical democracy. In this paper, Quentin Skinner's methodology is used to analyze the understanding of these two thinkers from the model of democracy.